This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family.
I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become.
Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Eduwebtv interview of Ainan on Velociperception.

Eduwebtv, which I understand is a Malaysian government TV initiative, recently interviewed Ainan and myself, on our recent research work.

The interview gives a general overview of Ainan's life, to date (a quick sketch) - and looks at some aspects of the new sense perception which Ainan discovered, Velociperception, and which we then worked on understanding and characterizing together, through experimentation and testing of theories.

Ainan, ten, is rather shy, on camera, and in the presence of strangers, but I think some of him does manage to come across, particularly in unguarded moments, when a little humour creeps in (note the moment when he sneaks out of camera shot, in what I know, from his sense of humour, to be a moment of Ainan style comedy).

Though impromptu, since we didn't expect to be interviewed, I think the journalist did manage to tease out a fairly good outline of parts of Ainan's story (and mine). Thanks to Eduwebtv for taking an interest.

(Eduwebtv is an initiative of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia).

So, take a look at the interview, and if you have any thoughts on it...scribble them below. Thanks.

2 Comments:

I find it interesting that Ainan managed to identify this velociperception on his own. What I mean by this is when he says he was eight and playing dodgeball, and he realized the unusual colors that accompanied velocity. Many synesthetic people I have heard of weren't able to identify their ability as children and instead thought everyone had these abilities. Of course, I don't know exactly how old they were when they did indentify their abilities, but it is impressive, in my opinion, to see Ainan, only eight when he first noticed this ability, able to somehow realize that it was special. Do you think these abilities have helped Ainan with his science?

Yes. I think he is very aware of his world...and is observing that of others too, so I think he is, thereby able to note the differences between himself and others, in these respects. He is cautious, too, I think in what he relates to others: if they don't speak of a phenomenon, Ainan's assumption is that they don't have it.

Re. helping him. I am sure that his synaesthesia makes his world rather different and more intense than for other people. This is probably a help to him - but we would have to work more to quantify it.

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family.
I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become.
Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

About Me

As a child, I had many gifts...perhaps too many - and this leads to the characteristic problem many gifted children face: what to do, when there is so much you COULD do. I resolved the issue by doing each of them serially throughout my life. I had gifts in science, writing, art, music, acting and academia...and so my life has demonstrated each of these, at some time. However, in the modern world, those who specialize, and focus all their efforts on one thing, tend to win through. In the light of this I have written two books, which are being prepared for publication.
I was a child in a time when being gifted was not something people spoke about: it was not a widely recognized situation - at least not in my background. Nothing special was done therefore, to help. It is my wish that all in that position, these days, receive the support that is needed, to become the best they can be.
I have been an actor, a writer of two books, a government physicist, at age 17, the founding editor of an Arts magazine, at 22, and a performance artist whose work was covered by CNN (interviewer: Richard Blystone) and Reuters. However, my greatest achievement is to have fathered three sons.